


To Tame a Wild Heart

by alex2701



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Africa, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anti-Poaching, Artist Clarke, Badass Lexa, CEO Lexa, F/F, LGBTQ Character, Light Angst, Med Student Clarke, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Ranger Lexa, Safari, Slow Burn, Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:02:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22267591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alex2701/pseuds/alex2701
Summary: On a spontaneous honeymoon in Africa, Clarke steps way out of her comfort zone, has life changing experiences and meets an intimidatingly beautiful ranger that she can't quite figure out.
Relationships: Anya/Raven Reyes, Clarke Griffin & Lexa, Costia & Lexa (The 100), Octavia Blake/Lincoln
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	To Tame a Wild Heart

„Cheers to your honeymoon, girls!”, Octavia toasted as Clarke made a quick job of filling her brides’ empty glass of wine before shifting the dark brown mane out of her drunken face.

“Come on, wifey, we’re going to Africa!”, she giggled and that got the brunette to raise her glass, singing a very slurry “It’s the ciiiircle of liiiife!”  
At that, the three girls fell into an unstoppable laughter because Raven really was the worst singer and also, how on earth did they end up here?

3 days later Clarke and Raven got out of Johannesburg Airport in South Africa where they quickly found their bush pilot who was to bring them to a lodge in the middle of the wilderness.

“Hey, you must be Lincoln. Thanks for picking us up. This is Clarke and I’m Raven.”

A slight hint of confusion crossed the man’s face and he checked the sign he was holding: ‘Mr. & Mrs. Collins’.  
“I’m so sorry about the mistake, Mrs. and Mrs. Collins. We are known to be a very LGBTQ+ friendly lodge, you must understand. In fact, half our staff is queer. As you have already booked our best honeymoon suite, I’m afraid I cannot offer you a room upgrade, but if you’re interested in a hot air balloon safari, I’m sure we can arrange that as a compensation. We really didn’t mean to offend you in any way.”

Before Clarke could correct the poor man, Raven has already agreed. After a long flight of Raven constantly rambling about the mechanics of airplanes, Clarke didn’t even have the power to argue with her.

She fell asleep on the drive to the smaller airfield, where a little bush plane was already waiting for them. While Lincoln was loading up the large amounts of luggage into the tiny aircraft, Clarke eyed the machine cautiously.  
It was the smallest airplane she had ever seen - a Cessna 147, Raven informed her, and Clarke really couldn’t give a shit as long as she’d survive this flight.  
It only had one propeller on its nose and the name ‘Costia’ labeled on both sides – probably the airplane’s name, Clarke figured. She wondered if planes were mostly female like boats and motorcycles.  
A little door was underneath the wings and it had as little as 4 seats – two of them in the cockpit, and a very small luggage hold, so that their pilot had to put some pieces of luggage onto one of the passenger seats.

  
“Looks like one of you has to fly in the cockpit with me. Is that okay?”, Lincoln enquired with a friendly smile on his face and Raven beamed.  
If Clarke had known he’d let Raven fly for the most part, she probably would never have agreed to go on that honeymoon in the first place.

The lodge was situated on a rocky hill full of baobab trees, and from the reception (that was built around one of those odd bottle-like trees) they instantly spotted a large infinity pool that was overlooking a generous waterhole that was already greatly visited by animals which the two city girls have only ever seen in a zoo or national geographic documentaries.  
Giraffes were bending down comically, spreading their front legs widely to access the water. Zebras were galloping around teasing each other, and a herd of small antelopes (impalas, as Clarke later learned) was anxiously watching their surroundings. Clarke saved this picture as a mental note to paint later.

“Welcome to Cheetah Hill, Mrs. and Mrs. Collins”, the receptionist greeted them with a warm smile, offering champagne and various fresh fruit to the girls which they happily took.   
“My name is Echo and if you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask me or any other staff members. While Lincoln takes your luggage up to your room, I suggest we go over the features, activities and safety rules of this lodge.”

The woman took a folder and lead the girls to a shaded table close to the pool.  
“This is the dining area. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served in buffet style and all meals and drinks are included in your booking. You can get coffee, tea and water just over there at the self-service station. You can get soft drinks and alcoholic beverages at the bar. The alcoholic beverages are free of charge from 3 to 12, but you may purchase them outside of these times as well. Over there you find the pool and bar area, and as you can see, from here you can watch wildlife visiting the waterhole day and night. During nighttime, the waterhole is illuminated by flood lights and I recommend hanging around after sunset as that is big cat time and we sometimes get lions, cheetahs and even leopards visiting for a drink.”

“Can they get in here?”, Clarke asked anxiously, and the woman gave her a reassuring smile.

“No, there’s a fence around the lodge there which the larger wildlife cannot pass. So, there’s no need to worry, but please do not leave the lodge without a guide.”

“Larger wildlife? Small wildlife gets in here though? Like snakes?”, Raven asked mildly shocked.

“Yes, snakes sometimes come in here but are quickly dealt with, so you probably won’t see one. But if you are up in the early mornings, you’ll likely encounter Max, a honey badger that likes to come in here and scavenge for leftover food. He’s harmless though.”, Echo smiled and continued:  
“You may join any morning and afternoon game drive free of charge. The morning game drives start at sunrise, so 6:30 and take about 3 hours. The evening safaris start at 4 until sunset. If you’re interested in a night drive, bush walk or any other activities, you may contact any of our staff and we’ll organize that for you. We also offer massages and yoga lessons, but you can find all that in this brochure.”  
  
Echo slid the folder with the brochure, keys and further readings to the girls. “If you’ll excuse me, I forgot to bring something else.”, she mentioned and walked back to the reception.

“Alcohol is included?! Bloody hell, Reyes, how much did this cost?”, Clarke asked, and her friend gave her a wicked grin.

“Would have been more expensive if we had to pay for drinks separately at _Cheater_ Hill”, her friend replied with a wicked grin on her face and Clarke was happy they both got over this asshole Finn.

They were good friends in high school, but then didn’t stay in touch when Raven moved out of New York to study aeronautics, and Clarke stayed in the city to study medicine, which she has put on ice when her father passed away from cancer a couple of years ago.  
The girls only got in touch with each other again, when Clarke unexpectedly received Raven’s wedding invitation. The problem was: Raven was about to get married to Clarke’s boyfriend.

The blonde has never been too serious about her relationship with Finn – he was just comforting after everything she has been through and to him, Clarke was the exotic, unruly artist.  
Raven, on the other hand, has been with Finn forever and really loved him, but he cheated on her with Clarke and when the two girls figured it out, they banded together to kick his ass.  
Sometimes, friendships can be revived through the oddest of situations.  
The months after their common break-up with Finn, Raven has lived with Clarke and they have been through one hell of an emotional rollercoaster: cancelling the wedding, drinking too much, and then: rebooking the honeymoon.  
Now they’re in Africa, their friendship stronger than ever.

“We cannot keep pretending we’re Mrs. and Mrs. Collins”, Clarke stated.

Raven wiggled her eyebrows, leaned over and whispered into Clarke’s ear: “Babe, we’re gonna have the most wicked honeymoon ever.”

Before Clarke could roll her eyes and smack her friend, Echo was back with two stainless steel reusable water bottles that had ‘Cheetah Hill’ and the face of the spotted predator engraved.

“As we are an eco-lodge, we do not have plastic bottled water. Feel free to refill these bottles as often as you like at our filtered water tank and please, drink plenty as it gets rather hot out here”, Echo said and escorted them to their room.

The honeymoon suite was a large, wooden, African-style bungalow on the hillside by the waterhole. From the large terrace that also featured a private hot tub, the girls had their private view onto the waterhole and the endless grass- and bush plains until the horizon.  
The large king-sized bed was covered in rose petals and towels artistically wrapped into two kissing elephants.

Raven instantly spotted the minibar and prepared two glasses of South African Merlot.  
“Clarke, sweetie, love of my life, would you like to join me in the hot tub?”, she dramatically said, winking at the blonde and they both laughed as they got into their bikinis.

“This place is incredible”, Clarke exhaled contently as she watched the animals at the waterhole from their private hot tub. They were graced by the golden light of the slowly setting sun and Clarke contemplated getting out her art supplies before dinner.

“Sure is”, Raven agreed and lifted her glass for a toast: “To our honeymoon!”

“To our honeymoon”, Clarke chimed in.

“So, what’s the plan for tomorrow? Do you wanna go on a game drive or something?”, Raven asked.

“What time’s that? Sunrise?”, Clarke yawned. She was exhausted from the journey and in addition, she wasn’t much of a morning person.

“Yeah, 6:30 I think.”

“Fuck it, we’re in Africa. I’m in”, Clarke said which she much regretted when her alarm went off at 5:30 am the next morning.

“Ugh, way too early”, she mumbled and sleepily turned off her phone.  
  
“Safari in the afternoon”, Raven agreed never opening her eyes.

At 6:15 Clarke woke up again - not by the alarm, but the most iconic and bone-chilling sound of Africa: A lion’s roar. A long-drawn-out groan, repeated perhaps 5 or 6 times, followed by husky deep-throated grunts, fading more and more each time.  
She sat up straight in bed, mouth agape and suddenly felt more awake than ever.  
“Fuck, that must be down at the waterhole!”, Raven said who jumped out of bed and tumbled out onto the terrace. Clarke followed her, but to their surprise, there was no lion in sight.

“We’re so going on that game drive!”, both girls squeaked and quickly brushed their teeth and put on some random clothing before sprinting over to the reception, hair still messy form sleep.

Their guide, an intimidatingly beautiful brunette in a green ranger outfit was already there, checking the car. She turned around as the girls hurried towards her.

“Good morning Mrs. and Mrs. Collins. My name is Lexa and I’m your guide for today. I hope you had a pleasant sleep. Are you ready for your first game drive?”

“Good morning. You can call me Raven. Nice to meet you, Lexa. This is Clarke. And yes, we’re so so ready!”

Clarke wasn’t able to do anything but stare at their guide. There was something about her, the piercing green eyes, sharp jawline and plump lips. At that moment, Clarke was sure she didn’t need to see lions, leopards or the other exciting beautiful African wildlife, because she has just seen it all.

“Nice to meet you too, Raven and Clarke”, the ranger smiled, “Did you hear the lion?”

“Fuck yeah we did!”, Raven grinned and then nervously checked her surroundings. “It can’t get in here right?”

“No”, Lexa reassured her with a half-smile.

“Good, because it sounded like that thing was right next to our bungalow”, Raven said and that got a small laugh out of the guide, which made Clarke’s heart skip a beat or two. What the hell was wrong with her?

“The lion was about 3 kilometers away. You can hear them from as far as 8 kilometers. Let’s go, see if we can find them”, Lexa said as she gestured for the girls to hop onto the open safari vehicle.

When the engine started and they slowly headed out into the bush, Clarke turned to Raven and whispered in her ear: “Like hell I’m pretending we’re a couple!”


End file.
